Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) provide addresses of content available on the Internet to users. By typing in a URL into a browser, a user obtains content at the address associated with the URL. For example, a user accessing the URL http://www.uspto.gov through his or her browser will be taken to the website of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. As the Internet has evolved, URLs have dramatically increased in length as entities seek to include session information, parameters, queries, and other values within the URL. Additionally, the prevalence of mobile networking, social media, and tablet computing has created a consumer desire to use the shortest URLs possible. The aforementioned conflict created a need for an intermediate service that provides a short URL to a consumer which refers the user to the longer URL at the final destination. These URL shortening services include, for example, bit.ly, TinyUrl, and Google URL Shortener.
Nevertheless, current implementations suffer from the inability to provide individualized statistics based on consumer engagement through a marketing campaign that utilizes the shortened URL service. For example, current services cannot tell a business the user demographic information of individuals who visit a shortened URL nor can such current services link together the visit of a shortened URL with the purchase of an item offered at the final destination.
In addition, enterprises intending to track user activity on their websites use various types of tracking methods, such as, for example, cookies, web beacons, and script blocks. However, current tracking methods do not enable an enterprise to identify whether activity identified in these tracking methods generated from a user interacting with a marketing campaign, such as, for example, a user clicking a link within an email, and the current tracking methods do not enable an enterprise to determine which user is associated with the activity.
To solve this need, enterprises attempt to use persistent tracking objects that are stored on the user's computer or within the user's browser, such as, for example, a cookie. However, such locally stored tracking objects may be defeated by the user through deletion of such objects or through browser configurations. In addition, trending regulations, laws, and rules are attempting to stop this type of tracking activity without opt-in consent from the user.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a method and system that provides individualized shortened URLs to consumers and links together the usage of the shortened URL with subsequent Internet activity. In addition, there exists a need for a method and system that enables an enterprise to track user activity associated with the usage of the shortened URL with subsequent Internet activity that does not rely on locally stored tracking objects.